Men's College Hoops: Highland looks to regroup for postseason

Highland's regular season didn't live up to the high standard that's been well established by the men's basketball program.

But compared to a year ago when the Cougars struggled to their worst season (14-18) in two decades, they've taken at least a few steps in the right direction. Highland (19-11) has already surpassed last year's win total by five games and the Cougars are hoping to add on a few more victories with postseason play set to begin this week at the Region IV tournament in Dixon.

"We're in a good place," Highland coach Tone Boyle said. "The guys are excited for it. The last couple of weeks kind of dragged for us. We were up and down. The feel of the postseason is something we needed to wake us up because we've kind of been on cruise control and not in a positive way. It's a good change of pace."

Inconsistency has been a theme for Highland. The Cougars won six of seven to start the season but then won just four of the next 10. They ran off six straight victories during the final two weeks of January, but are only 3-4 in February.

"We haven't dealt with adversity well and it's made us inconsistent," Boyle said. "We'll win a game and then lose one, and because we lose we get a little bit distraught and then lose another one and that's kinda what's affected us. Typically when we're struggling defensively, we struggle offensively and we allow our frustrations to leak into the other end of the floor. Hopefully, we're finding a renewed sense of energy and are going to be able to bring it on both ends."

The two most consistent players for Highland have been freshman D'Angelo Jackson and sophomore Jaylan Robertson. Robertson is averaging a team-high 14.9 points and shooting a team best 39.6 percent from 3-point range, while Jackson averages 14.7 points and 6.9 rebounds. Both of them were named All-Region.

The Cougars are the No. 3 seed for the tourney, which is hosted by No. 1 seed Sauk Valley. The Skyhawks (24-6) are the only team in the field of seven that Highland hasn't beaten. The Cougars have beaten quarterfinal opponent Malcolm X (11-19) twice. A third win over the Statesmen on Thursday would likely set up a rubber match with Kankakee (21-9) in the semifinals Saturday.

"It's going to be a tough road to get through the region," Boyle said. "There is a lot of good talent in the region this year, a lot of good teams and obviously you've got to win the first one to win any of them but I think it's going to be a fun regional tournament."